Outsourced help. Dedicated account reps. Lone contributors. These are terms that might come to mind when you think about the remote consultants who make up a Managed Services team. While these are likely descriptors for many remote support services throughout the health IT industry, Nordic’s Managed Services team is a bit atypical.
Read on as we dispel some of the main misconceptions people may have about Managed Services and how our team is structured to quickly and efficiently help our client partners resolve some of their toughest support issues.
Misconception #1: Managed Services is made up of lone contributors.
Often, when consultants join Managed Services, they’re anticipating that they’ll be working remotely on a one-on-one basis with clients. However, the Managed Services division has a strong team-based structure. Our clients are supported by teams of consultants who collaborate to resolve system issues. This allows our consultants to work together on more complicated system builds that span different applications to create the best solution.
In addition, our team members work with fellow consultants supporting other clients. They tap into the knowledge of how we may have resolved a similar issue for other clients. This knowledge sharing enables us to present different solution options to client partners when resolving their issues. We believe our team structure is one of the key drivers of success for our department, helping us provide the highest quality service to our clients.
Our strong team culture resonates with our consultants. While many work remotely, those who live close to Madison regularly make use of the Nordic home office and enjoy collaborating with their teammates face-to-face. They’re drawn to the internal initiatives and team culture that we’ve fostered with our group.
Misconception #2: We work on a per-ticket basis.
When we talk about having a team mentality, that mindset also extends to our relationship with our client partners. We consider our teams to be an extension of the client team. We’re not looking for quick fixes to issues. Instead, our goal is to become an integral part of their solution set, both in the short-term and long-term.
That’s one of the main reasons we offer a fixed-fee, capitated pricing model, instead of a per-ticket pricing model. By removing the barrier that ticket volumes can cause, we’re able to focus on solving problems at the root of the issue. Sometimes we like to think of ourselves as “systems babysitters” – clients can trust us to watch over their system so they are freed up to work on larger, more complex issues at their organization.
Misconception #3: We’re remote, so we never actually meet with clients in person.
This misconception could stem from our label as “remote” support, but many clients are surprised when we offer to come out to their location to conduct an onsite kickoff. We begin every client partnership by having a face-to-face, onsite planning session. This gives us the opportunity to get to know one another better and helps us align on outcomes, priorities, and organizational workflows.
As the partnership progresses, we may find that there are other instances where it makes sense for one or more of our team members to make another onsite visit. In the past, we’ve done this for special projects and go-live support for customers. For example, this November we are sending some of our analysts out to Loma Linda to support its Community Connect go-live. While we weren’t directly involved in the setup for that go-live, we knew that Loma Linda could use a hand and offered up our resources to help. These onsite visits are up to the discretion of clients and their account team.
Misconception #4: There’s little opportunity for career progression or growth in a Managed Services role.
We often get asked whether there’s any opportunity for career advancement or growth within the Managed Services team. The answer is yes, definitely! Team leads focus on mentoring our associate team members, providing guidance on client work, and offering supplemental training through knowledge sharing courses. Many of our team members have received additional certifications to help advance their skillset.
More broadly, we’ve identified three main areas where our associate team members can advance their professions: technical expertise, project management/sales, and people management. That said, Managed Services is a rapidly-growing division, and there could be roles that exist in the future that don’t necessarily exist today. We encourage individuals who join our team to help create their own growth paths, and we’ll give them the time and resources to make that happen.
This focus on nurturing the growth of our team members and building a strong partnership with our clients has helped us reach some exciting milestones lately in Managed Services – we are now supporting 20 clients with a team of over 100 consultants. Want to know about Nordic’s Managed Services team or interested in joining us? Check out our Managed Services page for an overview of the application support and systems maintenance services we provide, or view the full list of Managed Services current openings.
